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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Randall Terry and his arrest at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More

In the past few days I have received at least a dozen emails decrying the arrest of Randall Terry and a few of his supporters at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More on October 5th. (Arrests also took place at the Cathedral in Baltimore in September.) All of the emails contained Terry's press release which starts, "It is with great grief that I report to you that I, Randall Terry, along with Brian Sherwood and Joseph Landry, were arrested on Respect Life Sunday, October 5, at St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington, VA...." While I'm not opposed to leafletting church lots I think Terry's tactics in these cases are disturbing and, frankly, I question his motives.

A friend of mine who was at the Cathedral both in the morning and in the afternoon when the arrests took place said that Fr. Lundberg, the associate pastor, did not want to have the leafletters arrested. The diocesan policy was explained to them and they were asked to move to the public sidewalk off the property where they could have continued giving out their fliers. (Incidentally, the pastor, Fr. Robert Rippy, was away and the associate is very pro-life.)But moving to the public sidewalk would have meant no publicity and without it Terry can't raise the big bucks to keep himself going. The press release was on the internet immediately after the arrests. Clearly, it was written and ready to go. So the leafletters WANTED THE ARRESTS.

I was involved in some of the earliest sit-ins at abortion mills back in the 1970s. I also participated in Operation Rescue in the 80s. I admired Randall Terry at the time. But his actions since then have cast a serious shadow on his credibility: his abandonment of his wife of 18 years, his Las Vegas divorce and remarriage to a staffer who worked on his Senate campaign, his claiming to have no money for child support while he was fundraising from the pro-life movement to build a $400,000+ house in a gated Florida community, his lawsuit over the name Operation Rescue, his use of confrontational tactics to gain publicity and use it for fundraising. All these things are seriously problematical.

I also find Terry dishonest. He pulled out of the NOW vs. Scheidler case in 1998, but tried to capitalize on the publicity when it was finally resolved in 2006 as though he had remained a defendant. His defection actually hurt the remaining defendants. Randall Terry was also paid $10,000 from the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation for his few months of work trying to prevent Terri's murder. As someone who also fought for Terri, that makes me somewhat nauseated.

I urge readers to look into Randall Terry's background and ask themselves what's really motivating these actions at churches. Is Randall Terry's first concern the defense of the unborn? Or is he looking for a new cash cow and media attention to rebuild his empire as a leader in the pro-life movement? The bishops certainly deserve plenty of criticism, but not for this I think.

If you have money to spare for the pro-life movement send it to a real pro-life hero, Joe Scheidler and his Pro-Life Action League, or to a local crisis pregnancy center. If you are thinking of giving to Randall Terry, get a financial statement first. When people visit his Society for Truth and Justice and click on the donation icon, exactly where is their money going? How much salary is Terry paying himself, what kind of expense account does he give himself, and what accounting procedures are being followed? Is he a good steward for the Lord? Or is he a steward for himself? It's a question that needs asking.

14 comments:

  1. I am going to comment on some errors you made in this posting, as I was there and actively handing out pamphlets at the Masses. Our original intent was to hand out the pamphlets and to not be arrested. the difference is in intent. We did not want to be arrested, but were prepared to do so if the occasion arose.

    Yes, we were warned to leave the parking lot and church property, but due to fences and the roadway, there would have been no way to get the pamphlets to people as they were leaving without greatly impeding a busy intersection. The point of the pamphlet drop is to get this information to the parishioners and allow them to make an informed decision.
    When Father called the police, the police were on the verge of arresting Mr. Terry and others, but stopped due to Father's coming out at the last minute and stopping them. This was the 12:30 mass. We then went and had dinner with the intent to come back and do the last pamphlet drop for the evening mass. At that time we believed that there would be no problems in doing more pamphlet drops and went to the evening mass believing we would be finished in a few minutes. However, Father and the police were waiting for us. At that point we levet the church parking lot, and set up a banner with graphic pictures on it. Your friend failed to mention this, as well as the fact that Father then asked the police to have us move from that spot. The police then began to harass us and made some comments concerning contempt and breaking the law. So despite leaving the property, the good reverend did not back off. At this point Mr Terry , Mr. Landry and Mr. Sherwood decided to go ahead with the pamphlet drops while the rest of us stayed on the sidewald outside of the property. Again, we were not expecting to see the police, but these 3 men were willing to go through with the arrests.

    I am not going to address the personal issues you bring up, which is up to the individual to do his or her own due diligence and discernment, but believe you need to know the 'other side' if you are going to make the claim of reporting the truth, at least concerning events of october 5, 2008.

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  2. Question:

    Were these the same pamphlets that were passed out at the National Basilica within the past few weeks?

    -Kevin J. Symonds
    StMi49531@aol.com

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  3. Kevin,

    these are new pamphlets that quote John Paul II and his teachings, and not the Obama literature taht was handed out at the Basilica in Baltimore

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  4. What errors? You haven't pointed any out.

    As for the Arlington police -- they don't need a priest to tell them to harrass pro-lifers. They've been doing it for years in front of the abortion mills.

    I reiterate my warning to people about giving donations to Randall Terry and his organization.

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  5. I have read your comments and will not address your personal attacks but will address your errors relating to the arrests on 10/5. I was there and know for a fact that the arrests were unexpected. The men went to the cathedral in the evening to finish the leaflettting that they had started during the day. We were all caught by surprise that the police were waiting for them when they arrived in the evening. I myself did not go back to the cathedral in the evening because it was supposed to be quick. I was present when the press release was written AFTER the arrests occurred. There were no pre-written press releases nor dishonesty in intentions. Please make sure you have your facts right before you post them. Thank you.

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  6. To the person who responded to my question:

    You need to put your name to your post before your answer will be taken seriously.

    -Kevin J. Symonds

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  7. Well Mary Ann Kreitzer you advised to do some research of Mr. Terry but you did a lousy job yourself. go to http://www.operationrescuetheft.com/ for the real story. And Mary Ann since when is using wikipedia a valid source of information?
    Kevin you can go to www.ahumbleplea.com to see the literature that was distributed.

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  8. Wow, I really hit a nerve! But I didn't use Wikipedia. Sorry.

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  9. I trust you will do the honorable thing and read www.operationrescuetheft.com to get the real story and I'm sure you have the integrity to correct your errors publicly. Its okay, all journalists make mistakes. I pray God doesn't hold you culpable for your sin of detraction and calumny.

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  10. What errors? You still haven't mentioned any.

    Frankly, I couldn't care less over the battle for the name Operation Rescue. It isn't particularly relevant to the article which mentioned it in passing. The Bible does, however, say we should not go to the civil courts to solve problems with Christian brothers but go to the Church. Let people read the facts and decide for themselves whether they want to financially support Randall Terry. I reiterate my suggestion to support Joe Scheidler and his Pro-Life Action League. Another good option would be the 40 Days for Life campaign. They've already saved more babies than all the rescues put together.

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  11. 'But moving to the public sidewalk would have meant no publicity and without it Terry can't raise the big bucks to keep himself going. The press release was on the internet immediately after the arrests. Clearly, it was written and ready to go. So the leafletters WANTED THE ARRESTS.'

    OK, the errors have been pointed out to you more than once but apparently you clearly haven't read what was said so I'm directly quoting some of your errors in the hopes that you will see them. As I have said, the press release was writen after the arrests, not before as you would like others to believe. If you read the other comments you will see what else is wrong with your statement.

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  12. Also, seeing that you are Catholic you might want to learn something about annulments while you are at it.

    God does not rub our shortcomings in our faces but misinformed people do. He forgives us when we repent. It is the devil who continues to point them out to us after we have sought forgiveness.

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  13. "learn something about annulments"

    Are you referring to him abandoning his original family, even after specifically being counseled by his church not to do so?

    Please remember that he was formally censured by his church at the time.

    That is a very rare step taken only for repeated, willful sin (NOT merely for divorcing his wife)

    Until he resolves the censure with Landmark Church, Terry simply cannot be considered fit to lead any public ministry.

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  14. Well, Joe, it has been a long time since last we spoke at Steubenville.

    I have been following your career and I am scratching my head at how you became caught up in Operation Rescue.

    I have done as you asked and read the pamphlet. Considering that the pamphlet in question (unless I am reading the wrong one) specifically goes after Barack Obama, then, yes, you will have a legal problem both civilly and with the Church.

    -KJS
    http://d-rium.blogspot.com

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